The customary and usual method of toilet bowl installation employs the use of two or more long bolts having elongated heads. The heads of the bolts bear against the underside of the soil pipe flange when the bolts are inserted from beneath into slots or holes formed in the soil pipe flange. Because there is normally no positive means to retain the bolts erect and in place in the flange soil pipe, and since the heads of the bolts are on the underside of the soil pipe flange, the bolts may be easily dislodged during the placing of the toilet bowl and wax sealing ring over the soil pipe flange. They cannot, of course, be held in place manually, because the toilet bowl base completely covers the flange of the soil pipe as the base is lowered into position. Thus the bolts tend to fall downward under gravity if even touched during the placing of the toilet place in position in and, if this occurs, this necessitates removal of the toilet bowl so that the one or more bolts may again be placed in position. In addition to presenting a very frustrating situation, it is likely that the wax sealing ring placed between the soil pipe flange and the toilet base may be damaged due to placement, removal and resetting of the toilet bowl base one or more times. This situation may occur even when the bolt heads are sought to be temporarily held in place by the use of putty, wax, tape or similar contrivances, and this is especially so when the installation is being performed by inexperienced persons.
The prior art apparatus also uses a conventional nut to tighten together the combination of the soil pipe flange, wax ring and toilet bowl base. Since this nut is tightened by the use of a common wrench, excess pressure sometimes is applied and the ceramic body of the toilet bowl base may be cracked or broken, especially when done by inexperienced persons.
The novel method of the present invention includes use of a hardened spring tensioned eccentric clamp that is placed over the slot in the soil pipe flange, and which will conform to any such flange in use at present because of its resiliency. The bottom portion of the clamp lies against the underside of the flange and is fitted with threads for receiving a headless threaded stud. No bolts are used and no tool is needed. The upper portion of the clamp is provided with a hole which is not threaded, but is of a size to permit the free passage of the stud. This upper hole assures, without installer skill, a vertical and substantially perpendicular alignment of the threaded stud with the bottom portion of the clamp. The uppermost end of the threaded stud is provided with a slot in the form of a common screwdriver slot which is normally not used in installation, but which is available for ease of removal as sometimes needed long after installation. The headless stud may be easily adjusted without any tool as to height above the toilet bowl, thus allowing the decorative cover cap to fit properly. This, in turn, eliminates the common practice of sawing off excess bolt length as is presently practiced in the industry. The bolts presently used cannot be accurately sized in advance because the height of the soil pipe flange above the floor is a variable, and excess bolt length cannot be tolerated because the decorative cover caps will not fit properly over the end of the bolt and nut threaded thereover if the bolt end projects too far through the hole in the toilet bowl base. That is why excess bolt length is sawed off if the same is too long.
In any event, the threaded stud of the present invention is held securely by the threaded bottom portion of the retaining clamp and thus the stud cannot be dislodged as the toilet bowl is placed into position over the soil pipe flange. The consequence is that toilet bowl installation is quick and simple, even for a do-it-yourself installer with no previous experience.
Two recent searches of the prior art relating to this field did not disclose or suggest the present method, although various components of the apparatus employed in the method are known. The principal novelty of the present invention resides in the method that differs in so many ways from the closest known prior art reference, hereinafter discussed at length. The method is facilitated by several components that do bear some resemblance to other, but nonanalogous art references, but these nonanalogous art references do not teach or suggest the unique series of steps of the present method, which leads to a much improved result that is strikingly different from the totality of the prior art.
The most relevant, and analogous, prior art appears to be U.S. Pat. No. 3,181,585 by Brewington although there are a substantial number of differences between it and the present invention. Brewington teaches an anchoring bolt for water closet bowls and includes a three piece apparatus comprising a retainer adapted to slide into those types of soil pipes that include a bayonet slot of the flange, a headless steel screw for threaded engagement with said retainer, and a bolt (cap) that may be made from nylon or lead and which has a head preferably hexagonal in shape for reception of a wrench. This reference's retainer will not work with certain soil pipe flanges, such as copper flanges presently in use that have holes rather than slots. The eccentric construction of retaining clamp of the present invention will straddle the edge of such a flange and align with both the top and bottom of such a hole. Furthermore, this eccentric retaining clamp is resilient and will conform to the shape of any flange, as opposed to Brewington's retainer.
Brewington teaches elimination of the customary decorative cover cap, contrary to the teachings of the present invention. The effect is to expose to permanent view a bolt that is unsightly, as opposed to a decorative cap of identical color with the toilet. Such bolts will hardly ever be of an identical color with the toilet because they are produced by a different manufacturer than the toilet is, making true color matching virtually impossible.
Brewington requires the use of a wrench or similar tool, which is also contrary to the present invention. Moreover, because this reference does utilize such a wrench, it does not have the axial pressure limiting features appropriate to eliminate cracking or chipping of the ceramic toilet bowl base, which is one of the principal purposes of the present invention.
Further, the use of a wrench on the nut of Brewington can be expected to produce scarring because the preferred materials are lead or nylon which are soft. Such scarring is permanently exposed to view making the result even more unsightly than simply the color difference and the fact that a nut is exposed to view.
Reusability with Brewington is problematical. If a toilet bowl base must be removed from the soil pipe to clear an obstruction therein, disassembly of Brewington in the same sequence as assembly is not assured, because it teaches self-tapping of threads in both the nut and retainer as a consequence of torque applied by the wrench, leaving in question which of the nut or retainer will become unthreaded when a loosening torque is applied to the nut on disassembly. In contrast, the present invention contemplates the ability to disassemble and reuse its component parts in the sequence in which they were installed, not depending upon chance resistance of the threads in the retainer and nut, as in Brewington. In contrast, the present invention is both readily removable and reusable.
The use of smooth bore parts in Brewington, namely the bolt and retainer, especially the latter, means that alignment is critical and skill is required to assemble its components. No such skill is required to use the method of the present invention in installing a toilet bowl.
Brewington, as noted above, teaches elimination of the decorative cover caps. In addition to the aesthetic disadvantages, there are two practical disadvantages to deletion of the cover caps. The first is that these caps prevent condensation and other corrosion causing agents from seeping down to the threads of the stud and retainer. The other is that these caps prevent wax from the wax sealing ring from oozing through the ends of the normally elongated openings in the toilet bowl base, or at least hide it from view and dirt contamination of the oozed wax, which is even more unsightly.
The method of the present invention contemplates the ability to preadjust the height of the threaded stud to accommodate the uncertain height of the soil pipe flange above the floor. The mounting stud is hand threaded into the retaining clamp to a proper height to allow clearance of the top of same underneath the decorative cover caps when the same are placed in position. No skill, judgment or tool is required. This establishes the absence of an obstruction before setting the toilet bowl and damaging the wax ring.
In summary, Brewington differs from the present invention in at least the following respects:
1. The present invention prevents cracking of the toilet bowl by using axial pressure limiting wing nuts.
2. The present invention does not require tools to use.
3. The present invention avoids unsightliness due to scarring of visible parts because no tools are needed.
4. The present invention requires no installing skill.
5. The present invention requires no installer judgment because mounting stud height can be predetermined before the toilet bowl is set onto the wax ring.
6. The present invention allows elimination of any obstruction before the toilet bowl is set on the wax ring because of the foregoing height predetermination feature.
7. The present invention uses an eccentric resilient retaining clamp that is usable with all soil pipe flanges and conforms to them. It is specifically usable with copper flanges or others having only round holes therein.
8. The component parts contemplated by the presently inventive method are readily removable.
9. The component parts contemplated by the presently inventive method are readily reusable if removed.
10. The presently inventive method uses decorative cover caps to protect nuts and bolts, etc. from condensation and other corrosive agents.
11. The present invention uses decorative cover caps to either prevent oozing of wax from the wax ring through the ends of the normally elongated openings in the toilet bowl base, or at least hide it from view and dirt contamination.
12. The present invention uses decorative cover caps made by the same manufacturer as the toilet bowl which results in an exact color match between the toilet and the decorative cover caps.
13. The present invention hides unsightly nuts from view using the same decorative cover caps.
All thirteen points represent distinctions from the disclosure of Brewington.
A number of U.S. patents disclose various fasteners for use with a threaded bolt or screw but they are nonanalogous art in the context of the inventive method. One example is U.S. Pat. No. 3,797,548, issued to Barnett, et al., which teaches a device intended by axial loading to resist rotation of a threaded fastener as a consequence of vibration as would be encountered in a carburetor or other part in proximity to an internal combustion engine. The reference does not teach or suggest use of same for holding a threaded fastener in place where access is prevented by the method or structure of assembly of any of article of manufacture or mechanism. The specific structure of the Barnett, et al. reference is a spring clip in use with a headless threaded fastener that includes a slot to receive a screwdriver or similar tool. The headless threaded fastener with a screwdriver slot is virtually identical to the threaded mounting stud of the present invention. The spring clip itself also bears some superficial resemblance to a mounting stud retaining clamp utilized in the present invention, but one of the arms thereof is split in a manner differing from the present invention and both arms are in a threaded engagement with the threaded fastener. The latter is an essential feature of the reference to achieve axial loading, which is irrelevant in the present invention. The invention teaches away from the present invention, even when viewed as a structure rather than as the method disclosed and claimed.
Another reference is U.S. Pat. No. 4,261,598 by Cornwall which includes the use of nuts that appear similar to the wing nuts of the present invention. However, Cornwall does not teach the use of such devices as axial pressure limiting fasteners, which is an essential aspect of the present invention. Thus the use of the wing nuts as employed in the present method to avoid cracking of a toilet bowl is not taught or suggested by Cornwall.
A further fastener art reference is U.S. Pat. No. 1,878,199 by Stenger, et al., which discloses a combination nut and lock washer. Although the device disclosed therein is similar to one of the components of the present apparatus, this disclosure does not teach the combination of the component parts of the present invention or the method of use as claimed herein.
Other references are Yavich, U.S. Pat. No. 3,921, 220; Brewington, U.S. Pat. No. 3,180,660; Barber, U.S. Pat. No. 4,227,702; Tinnerman, reissued U.S. Pat. No. RE 22926; Munse, U.S. Pat. No. 3,414,035; Derby, U.S. Pat. No. 3,426,818; DeAngelis, U.S. Pat. No. 3,905,052; Taunton, U.S. Pat. No. 4,355,828; Izzi, U.S. Pat. No. 4,406,480; Wagner, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 26,712; Crowther, et al.. U.S. Pat. No. 2,716,434; Kersten, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 1,221,456; Otto, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,430,991; and Tinnerman, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 2,324,653.